TFTP Router Flasher

TFTP Router Flasher is a cross-platform command-line tool for flashing firmware to routers using the TFTP protocol. It is designed to assist in firmware recovery for routers that support TFTP-based rescue modes, such as many ASUS RT-series models.

This tool is a modern rewrite of the original arescue script by Joonas Nissinen. It has been updated for Python 3, refactored for clarity, and packaged as a CLI utility with improved logging, interface detection, and dependency management.

📚 Contents

• ✨ Features
• 📦 Installation
• 🛠️ Build Requirements
• 🚀 Usage
• 🖥️ Compatibility
• 📄 License
• 🤝 Contributing
• ⚠️ Disclaimer

✨ Features

• 🛠️ Automatically configures your network interface for rescue mode
• 📡 Scans IP ranges to detect routers in recovery mode
• 📤 Uploads firmware via TFTP using a Python client
• 🧾 Logs all activity to both console and file
• 🧪 Includes retry logic and fallback IP configurations
• 🧰 Packaged for easy installation and CLI use

📦 Installation

Clone the repository and install locally:

git clone https://github.com/vr-ski/tftp-router-flasher.git
cd tftp-router-flasher
pip install .

This will install the CLI command tftp-router-flasher, which you can run from your terminal.

💡 Make sure you're using pip >= 21.3 to ensure proper support for pyproject.toml builds.

🛠️ Build Requirements

sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential python3-dev

sudo dnf groupinstall "Development Tools"
sudo dnf install python3-devel

sudo pacman -S base-devel python

sudo xbps-install -S base-devel python3-devel

pip install .

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install .

🚀 Usage

tftp-router-flasher --firmware /path/to/firmware.trx --interface eth0

CLI Options

🖥️ Compatibility

📄 License

This project is licensed under the GPL-2.0 License.

This project is inspired by arescue by Joonas Nissinen, originally licensed under GPL-2.0. All original credit goes to the author.

🤝 Contributing

Pull requests are welcome! If you’ve tested this with other router models or added new features, feel free to open an issue or submit a PR.

⚠️ Disclaimer

This tool is provided as-is. Flashing firmware can permanently damage your device if done incorrectly. Use at your own risk.